I'm one of those folks who needs his cup of Starbucks coffee every morning.  Oh, I can survive without my coffee, and caffeine isn't a problem for me (I don't get headaches without it and it doesn't keep me awake at night if I enjoy a cup of coffee or two before bed), but I do love coffee.  So you can imagine my joy when I stumbled across a recent Harvard School of Public Health study which appears to show that several cups of coffee per day can significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.  For men who drink six or more cups of coffee per day, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes appears to be reduced by 50 percent or more while, for women, the reduction is about 30 percent.  As if I needed a reason to enjoy more coffee…  Go here to see the press release from Harvard.

In what can only be described as a fascinating reversal of roles, Canadian astronomers announced the discovery of a planet 90 light-years away which appears to heat up the star around which it orbits.  This discovery is a first since, as is the case with Earth and the Sun, we know that planets are heated by their stars.  This new phenomena in which the planet causes an increase in the star's surface temperature (an increase of more than 750 degrees F/400 degrees C) appears to be a result of the powerful magnetic field around the planet transferring energy to the surface of the star.  You can read more details about the discovery in this article at CNN.com.

Here’s the archive of the latest welcome message from the front page.

C₁₇H₂₁NO₄

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Welcome to my little corner of the Internet.  My name is Jason (duh, right?), and this is my experiment in self-expression.  I had no grandiose ideas when I started it and continue on in the spirit of ad hocism.

You can learn a little something about me and my life from what I divulge here.  It centers around my kids (the four cats who are very much in charge around here), my tattoos (those I have and those I intend to get), piercings (again those I have and those I intend to get), working out and trying to build a better body, my experiences, and exercising my free speech by discussing politics, local, national and world events, technology, science, national security, and a host of other things that I’m interested in.

Hopefully some of the things you’ll find here will entertain you.  If I’m lucky, you might find something here that will make you think. 

So take a look around, read a few things here and there, and feel free to let me know what you think.

I do not need acceptance from others
such cheap offerings are gratuitous at best
and unnecessary
without self-acceptance
that is all I truly need
with that, the rest is inconsequential
complimentary and complementary even
but not essential

[circa 1988]